Managing Composites has partnered with Gordon Murray Special Vehicles (GMSV) to support the development of high-performance vehicles, combining composites expertise with GMSV’s focus on engineering and performance. This collaboration spans three of the brand’s defining supercars: the S1, S1 LM and Le Mans GTR.

The partnership follows recent activity from GMSV, including the debut of the Le Mans GTR, the continued development of the S1 LM and the unveiling of the S1 during Monterey Car Week.

The companies will also focus on technical collaboration across vehicle architecture and design, with both companies prioritizing performance and integration throughout development. Further details of the work are expected to be announced.

“Our team has helped develop some of the world’s most exclusive hypercars, but this project is taking craftsmanship and personalization to a completely new level. Every detail is being challenged, refined and tailored to create something truly unique. We’re helping define the identity of each car by pushing materials, finishes and manufacturing techniques beyond what has ever been done before. This is the kind of program where even the smallest details deserve to be extraordinary,” said Lluc Martí Fibla, CEO of Managing Composites.

In recent news, Aston Martin Valkyrie undergoes technical development test at Silverstone

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Aston Martin’s Valkyrie hypercar has completed a comprehensive test at Silverstone’s Grand Prix circuit, which will host the British round of the 2027 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in April.

The Aston Martin Thor Team tested a development version of the 6.5-liter V12-powered Valkyrie Hypercar at Silverstone, with factory drivers Ross Gunn and Harry Tincknell completing the session. The team oversees Aston Martin’s WEC Hypercar and IMSA GTP programs.

Aston Martin Thor evaluated a range of technical developments during the Silverstone test, collecting data to inform the future performance development of the Valkyrie Hypercar.

“This was a significant day for Valkyrie,” said Aston Martin Thor team principal Ian James. “Some of the developments we tried today will fuel our thinking as we consider the technical direction we go next with Valkyrie. We have been able to evaluate lots of areas of performance on the car, so Silverstone has proved an interesting place to challenge ideas. There’s more to come, and I think it gives us reasons to be excited about what might be next for Valkyrie.”

The Valkyrie has shown performance improvements across its 2026 WEC and IMSA campaigns. In WEC, it secured its first double-points finish at the 6 Hours of São Paulo; in IMSA, the car has recorded six top-10 finishes from seven starts, including a second-place finish on the road at its latest event.

“We’ve been happy with Valkyrie’s performance characteristics in the first two seasons of competition,” said Aston Martin’s head of endurance motorsport, Adam Carter. “We’ve repeatedly said that we’ve entered an arena with a high level of formidable adversaries that are also several years further down the development track than us.

“So, we are now beginning to explore new areas of performance that we may gain through developing the base car, now that we understand its characteristics that much better after 18 months of racing it. We’re right at the beginning of that journey, and this was a useful and informative start to that development process.”

The test also gave Aston Martin Thor experience of the Michelin tires and Silverstone circuit characteristics ahead of the WEC’s return to the venue in 2027. The event will be the championship’s first British round since 2019.

“We very much welcome Silverstone back to the calendar,” said Carter. “It is not only the home of Aston Martin and British motorsport but also the perfect opportunity for some of the best fans in the world to experience the raw and visceral joy that is the Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar. They have waited a long time to see Valkyrie competing at the highest level on British soil, and they deserve to be thoroughly entertained. We will do our best to contribute to that experience.”

Developed from the Valkyrie production car by Aston Martin and Thor, the current competition version blends a race-optimized carbon-fiber chassis with a modified 6.5-liter V12 powerplant that revs to 11,000rpm and produces over 1,000bhp in standard form, but adheres to a strict 500kW (680bhp) power limit as per hypercar regulations.

In related news, Lamborghini selects Bridgestone Potenza Race R for Revuelto SV

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Bridgestone has unveiled its latest semi-slick track tire, the Bridgestone Potenza Race R. The tire debuted alongside the 2026 Lamborghini Revuelto SV (Super Veloce) as a bespoke variant of the track tire for the new SV supercar.

Elevating the track performance of the Bridgestone Potenza Race, the Potenza Race R combines a motorsport-inspired compound with a new aggressive pattern for extreme dry grip and handling. The high-grip tire reportedly offers fast warm-up and consistent times from the first to last lap, maximizing the Revuelto SV’s capabilities. It is fully homologated for public roads.

Bridgestone, Lamborghini’s official technical partner and exclusive tire supplier, has developed a bespoke tire line-up for the Revuelto SV. The range includes the Potenza Race R, Potenza Sport and Blizzak LM005, covering track, high-performance and winter driving requirements.

Powered by a V12 hybrid powertrain and influenced by Lamborghini’s racing heritage, the Revuelto SV is the fastest and most powerful production Lamborghini built in Sant’Agata Bolognese. It has a top speed of more than 345km/h and accelerates from 0-100km/h in 2.4 seconds.

“The Lamborghini Revuelto SV is the perfect vehicle to introduce our new, bespoke Bridgestone Potenza Race R and showcase what it can do. And Lamborghini has been a brilliant partner in helping bring our vision to life,” said Adrien Thormann, director of OE sales at Bridgestone Europe. “In 2023, Lamborghini chose Bridgestone as exclusive tire partner for the Revuelto, its first-ever super sports V12 HPEV. Three years later, the incredible Revuelto SV launches with Bridgestone as sole tire partner once again.”

According to Bridgestone, the ultra-high-performance fitment delivers exceptional high-speed performance and steering precision on dry and wet surfaces. Revuelto SV drivers can select the custom Potenza Sport with Bridgestone’s Run Flat Technology (RFT). RFT enables drivers to continue safely after a puncture for 80km at up to 80km/h with 0-bar pressure.

Completing the line-up, Bridgestone has developed a bespoke Blizzak LM005 winter fitment for challenging cold-weather conditions.

Bridgestone’s fitments feature the unique Lamborghini marking – highlighting their exclusive development – and are available in 20in and 21in (front-rear) sizes: 265/35 ZR20 (99Y) and 345/30 ZR21 (111Y). All four fitments were developed and manufactured in Italy.

“At Lamborghini, Super Veloce signifies extreme performance, which is perfectly embodied by the new Revuelto SV,” said Alessandro Farmeschi, Automobili Lamborghini Revuelto product line director. “Every detail has been optimized – from aerodynamics and power delivery to the bespoke Bridgestone tire line-up that matches the vehicle’s extraordinary capabilities. The pairing of the Revuelto SV and the new Bridgestone Potenza Race R reflects our shared commitment to engineering at the cutting edge of performance.”

The Revuelto SV’s bespoke Bridgestone tire line-up was developed using Bridgestone’s proprietary Virtual Tyre Development (VTD) technology, which improves the efficiency and sustainability of the tire development process. According to Bridgestone, VTD can reduce raw material consumption and CO₂ emissions by up to 60% in the development phase.

In related news, Dunlop Geomax chosen as OE for Beta Motorcyles’ trial and motocross bikes

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JCB Hydromax recorded an average speed of 400.623mph (644.740km/h) in its first run at the Bonneville Salt Flats this month, and 412.135mph (663.266km/h) on its second run, giving an average of 406.320mph (653.908km/h) – the fastest a hydrogen internal combustion car has ever traveled.

Driven by Wing Commander Andy Green OBE, the twin-engined, 9.7m car completed the two runs required under Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) rules – one in each direction within an hour – comfortably beating the previous FIA-officiated hydrogen internal combustion benchmark of 185.5mph (298.5km/h) set by the BMW H2R in 2004. The record is subject to official ratification by the FIA.

The JCB Hydromax also surpassed the 350.092mph (563.418km/h) world diesel land speed record set by JCB Dieselmax in August 2006.

Green said, “The car was terrific – stable, strong and fast. Setting a world land speed record with hydrogen power, 20 years after Dieselmax, is a huge privilege. This record is a huge achievement by a world-class team and superb technology.”

The record – in Category A, Group XIV – Class 7 FIA World Flying Record Start Land Speed Record – was set using two of JCB’s production-based hydrogen digger engines, producing a combined 1,600bhp and manufactured at the company’s engine factory in Derbyshire in the UK. They are the same engines now powering JCB machines and equipment rolling off production lines in the UK as part of the company’s £100m (US$135m) hydrogen program.

JCB chairman Anthony Bamford said, “Twenty years ago we came to Bonneville with JCB Dieselmax and showed what British engineering could do with diesel power. Today we have done it again – this time with engines powered by hydrogen. This record was set by production-based engines, the same engines powering JCB diggers right now. That is the point of JCB Hydromax: it shows hydrogen works, and it works today at the highest level with zero emissions.”

JCB engineering director Ryan Ballard commented, “This record belongs to the engineering team that took a hydrogen digger engine and made it the fastest of its kind on Earth. This has been an amazing challenge from the outset. We came here fully prepared, and the car delivered.”

In related news, IndyCar unveils all-new IR-28 race car

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The first McLaren of its kind, the McL 6GT draws inspiration from the McLaren M6GT, Bruce McLaren’s original but ultimately unrealized supercar project. A production version is planned for 2028, bringing that vision to reality.

According to the auto maker, the McL 6GT blends its purity of character with lightweight carbon-fiber construction and V8 internal combustion power for the first time in a McLaren since the McLaren F1.

“The McLaren McL 6GT imagines what our inspirational founder had wished to complete, but with six additional decades of innovation and passion woven through every element, creating a modern icon of driver connection. It is symbolic of the bold, provocative and hugely exciting future that we are preparing to realize,” said Nick Collins, chief executive officer at McLaren Automotive.

Celebrating tactility

The McL 6GT is designed to emphasize a more tactile, analog driving experience, with deliberate responses to shifts, throttle inputs and steering. Hydraulic steering, physical switchgear and exposed engineering details are intended to reinforce the connection between driver and car.

Knurled machined aluminum controls and ergonomics reinforce the same human-machine connection. The design of the gearstick has been carefully considered for maximum feel and throw, and incorporates design inspired by McLaren’s heritage, with a three-dimensional Speedy Kiwi set within its upright.

An inspired concept

The McL 6GT was presented at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. It sits exceptionally low and wide with a low nose, echoing the stance of the M6A Can-Am racer upon which the M6GT was based. The body surfacing is clean, with uninterrupted volumes flowing from the low nose to the distinctive kammback tail.

The car reads as a single continuous form, with the roof flowing naturally into the rear deck and engine cover. The cabin appears embedded within the body rather than sitting on top of it.

Lightweight carbon-fiber construction has become a central tenet of McLaren. McL 6GT is underpinned by the latest super-lightweight carbon-fiber monocoque technology combined with carbon-fiber bodywork.

In related news, Peugeot begins next phase of 9X8 development

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The Ferrari CZ26, designed by the Ferrari Design Studio under the direction of Flavio Manzoni and developed for a US client under the Special Projects program, draws on the dynamic features and performance of the SF90 Stradale.

The stylistic theme of the Ferrari CZ26 is defined by a distinctly horizontal design, with a highly distinctive two-box silhouette. The car has a stable, road-hugging presence thanks to a structure based on a pure central mass resembling a capsule, supported by the four muscle-like elements at the wheel arches. The entire composition flows from the front fascia.

The front is dominated by a full-width functional grille incorporating specific lighting units, characterized by ultra-slim modules with a concealed effect, brake air intakes, sensors and technical components. The distinctive shape of the front, underlined by a vertical leading edge, gives the car a bold and assertive presence. The rear features a truncated tail and cantilevered tail-lights, elements that give the Ferrari CZ26 a light and sculptural appearance. The diffuser also features a pronounced horizontal design, which helps to visually widen the car’s stance, reinforcing its sense of stability and its poise.

The overall bodywork design is based on a clean aesthetic, with functional elements emerging directly from the main surface. The side air intakes for cooling, the front end, the rear diffuser, the cantilevered light clusters and the carbon-fiber elements, which visually extend the wheel arches, are part of a single design language that combines function and aesthetic expression.

The cabin blends harmoniously into the car thanks to the use of black trim on the roof and pillars, creating the effect of a cockpit set within the bodywork. This enhances the clean lines and visual lightness of the overall design.

Particular attention has been paid to the selection of colors and finishes to convey the idea of a technical and sporty car that is also refined and forward-looking.

The exterior design theme is consistently reflected in the interior. The focal point is a bespoke black technical fabric, complemented by seat inserts produced using additive manufacturing and featuring a design developed specifically for the Ferrari CZ26.

Aerodynamic development encompassed every area of the car. At the front, the cooling system and airflow management were completely redesigned by reorienting the central radiator pack and introducing dedicated bypass ducts, enabling improvements in both cooling efficiency and the downforce generated over the front axle. The underbody and the vortex generator system were also completely redesigned to optimize aerodynamic balance.

The outer sections of the front bumper incorporate an air curtain system that manages the wake generated by the front wheels, helping to reduce aerodynamic drag. The rear has been completely redesigned, with the introduction of a large upper rear spoiler and a dedicated diffuser, both developed to increase downforce while maintaining a high level of aerodynamic efficiency. The rear engine cover has also been redesigned and incorporates dedicated vents for thermal management of the engine compartment, ensuring effective heat dissipation under all operating conditions.

In related news, Peugeot begins next phase of 9X8 development

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Lawrence Butcher looks at the development of the Mercedes-AMG One road-legal hybrid hypercar

One interesting point is that during the development of AMG One’s powertrain, there was minimal influence from the F1 side of HPP, despite the ongoing development of the racing PU. The ICE and associated systems were effectively frozen at the 2015 specification and later developments were not incorporated.

However, there was one key exception: the MGU-H. During the 2016 Formula 1 season, Lewis Hamilton suffered MGU-H failures at the Chinese and Russian grands prix. Those failures were traced to a turn-to-turn short, believed to be from a production difficulty in the winding process. “We had fundamentally made it very, very hard to make right,” says Allsopp. “We were too aggressive on the engineering and on how the coils were wound and interacting, so it was not a sufficiently robust, repeatable process.”

Using HPP’s comprehensive fault-management process, a thorough fault analysis followed each race failure, which extended to examining the behavior of everything associated with the motor, including the silicon carbide switches in the power electronics, their switching frequency and the potential effect of that on the coil insulation under extended running. Fundamental design changes were made for the 2017 season. When Allsopp took over the AMG One program, he was determined that the 275 production cars would carry the post-2016 design, not the unit that had failed in race conditions.

The battery pack has the same cell chemistry and design used in Formula 1, configured as the equivalent of four F1 battery modules in parallel. One significant difference from race use is that the AMG One must balance each of its cells on board.

In F1, the battery is removed from the car after each race and the voltage of each cell is checked and aligned. Clearly this is not practical for a road car, so the BMS needed its own balancing capability.

Bringing all the powertrain elements together from a software perspective, with full compliance to the required ASIL standards, was an undertaking in itself. “Looking at the complexity of the software, it was an area we underestimated,” says Allsopp. “We have the benefit in racing that the software is very open and we can architect solutions very quickly. With production controllers, it is not that simple.”

AMG One ended up running a blend of bespoke software solutions developed by HPP (and its partners) and standard road-car elements. Development engineer Adam Munday explains, “We did use some Bosch solutions where we maybe didn’t have the expertise – things like lambda sensor dew-point calculation and a lot of the OBD functions. They are areas where we are not experts, but for someone working on other road-car programs it’s a matter of adapting proven functions with some hardware-specific adjustments.”

The software integration required huge effort and coordination between the various parties within Mercedes, but the result was all of the control units working together harmoniously, tied in with a UI that would be familiar to any Mercedes road-car driver, and a powertrain operating to its full potential, reliably.

Hybrid development

The reliability requirements for the AMG One were rigorous: 5,000km between services and 50,000km between major powertrain services and refreshes. To put this in perspective, the 2015 PU had a total service life of around 5,000km.

Achieving these targets, not just for the powertrain but for the vehicle as a whole, required a blending of motorsport and production-car development approaches. In the motorsport world – particularly in F1, where track running is tightly limited – great reliance is placed on test-bench development, far more so than with road cars. For the AMG One, this entailed two dedicated test cells at Brixworth: one for calibration development, the other capable of full powertrain running, “Dyno seven was dedicated for AMG One use,” says Munday. “For durability running, it was especially useful to run the full car powertrain as a whole.”

Once an initial specification had been derived from the F1 PU, the team worked through multiple iterations, some more significant than others, to prove out each batch of changes. These test iterations “followed our F1 naming convention, starting with B1, 1.1, etc; we ended up at B2.3,” explains Munday.

Allsopp says of the project progression, “Dyno running moved to 24/7. In F1, we track our long-run progress against time. We have a well-defined profile and drive its delivery hour by hour, day by day, relentlessly. All I did was take the same engineering approaches we used in F1, clarified the mission and shared my honest assessment that in reality we were a long way off track versus where we need to be. We then built an aggressive plan and worked tirelessly as a team to get our heads above water.”

This intensive cycle of iteration and running ultimately led to a roadworthy powertrain, though there were nuances in the process, again highlighting how the high-pressure environment of F1 drives creative and concurrent thinking. “We created several phases, because there were some changes we could implement more quickly than others – for example, those related to the NVH and emissions challenges – so we packaged them in phases to prove out the durability of those changes in a controlled manner,” says Allsopp.

Importantly, a second dyno was available in parallel to focus purely on combustion development. This ability to run combustion and durability programs simultaneously was essential to the compressed timeline. However, what the dyno or simulation could not replicate exactly were the many edge cases that the car would be subjected to in customer hands.

Once mule cars became available, an intensive program of track and road testing began. This encompassed running across a range of conditions, from the European Alps to Portugal and Spain, enabling refinement of the powertrain calibration under real-world conditions. The track-testing element also flagged up potential reliability issues. For example, a weakness was found in the quill shaft connecting the front motors to the front-axle gearbox. Pushed to the limit on track, specifically when running over curbs, it produced oscillating loads that were not captured in any of the previous simulation models.

Elements such as cold-start performance, handling variations in fuel quality, and the full span of duty cycles from slow urban driving to sustained full-performance operation were all worked through, with the findings fed back to the test-bench work at Brixworth.

It was during this phase that the teams at HPP and AMG took their collaboration to a new level, blending elements of the race team’s approach with testing with road-car practice. The contrasts are worth noting. For all its heat of competition, F1 is a relatively controlled environment; the teams know where the cars will run and how the drivers are likely to drive them. The range of unknowns of road-car use were something of an alien environment. “There was quite a difference in expectation of what was done where,” says Allsopp, “and it was a really good conversation with AMG. We were challenging each other about what needed to be done, and actually the middle ground ended up being the right place.”

Bringing AMG One into reality was a protracted process. There’s was a reason no one had successfully tried to run an F1 powertrain on the road before: it’s unbelievably challenging. The first customer deliveries were not made until the end of 2022, which one might think would lead to dissatisfaction. But AMG did something unusual: it took its customers along for the ride. Rather than being shielded from the challenges of the project, customers were brought in early and given full visibility of the development process; they felt invested in it. “They became part of the journey and, later in the program, had great transparency of why there were delays and what we were doing about them. It gave them a unique experience,” says Allsopp.

It’s unlikely anyone is going to try anything similar to the AMG One any time soon; there are few manufacturers that could even contemplate such an undertaking. It was only by blending the huge resources of a company the size of Mercedes with the laser-focused mindset and almost unmatched engineering expertise of HPP in Brixworth that AMG One could become reality.

Related news, Mercedes-AMG One breaks its own lap record at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife

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Lawrence Butcher looks at the development of the Mercedes-AMG One road-legal hybrid hypercar

Until recently, no one had ever successfully built a road car around an F1 engine. There have been close tries, and engines from race cars have ended up fitted to road cars in modified form. Porsche’s Carrera GT took the base engine from the company’s RS Spyder LMP. Going the other way, BMW’s 1980s M12 F1 engine used a road-car block. But taking an unadulterated F1 engine and putting it in a road car had never been done, until Mercedes decided to do the unthinkable. The result? The AMG One.

The genesis of AMG One began in Mercedes’s dominant 2014 and 2015 Formula 1 seasons. The 1.6-liter V6 turbocharged hybrid power unit (PU) that powered Lewis Hamilton to consecutive Drivers’ World Championships was, by any measure, a generational piece of engineering. To celebrate and capitalize on this success, Mercedes and AMG began exploring the concept of a road-legal hypercar using the W06’s powertrain. The main questions: Was it even feasible and, if it were, how much of the F1 PU could survive the transition to the road intact?

Toward the end of 2015, a small group at Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains in Brixworth, UK – specifically what is now called the Advanced Technology group – began concept work, sketching out what changes would theoretically be required before the program formally launched in 2017.

Mercedes-AMG’s plan was to produce 275 cars, the highlight of which would be an essentially unmodified F1 PU: the 1.6-liter turbocharged V6 ICE, the MGU-H harvesting energy from the turbocharger, and the MGU-K recovering energy under braking from the rear axle, plus an additional pair of electric motors driving the front axle. The combined system would output over 1,000hp. Getting that package through European road-car homologation was far from easy and pushed even the team at HPP – a group well used to achieving the impossible – to the limit.

Powertrain preservation

Adam Allsopp, currently director of Advanced Technology at Mercedes AMG HPP, was deeply involved in the powertrain development. When the project began, he was engineering director on the Formula 1 program, but in 2018 he became increasingly engaged with the road car before becoming sole program lead in 2019. According to Allsopp, there was an almost single-minded pursuit of keeping the powertrain “pure” and only departing from the racing design where absolutely necessary.

“Wherever we were faced with difficult challenges, if the solution was going to move us away from what the regulation specified for that engine, that troubled me because it felt like we would be watering it down,” he recalls.

Changes to the fundamental ICE architecture were to be avoided wherever possible – a tall order, given that the F1 ICE was entirely optimized to produce maximum power and efficiency within the fuel-flow-limited constraints of the F1 regulations. From the oversquare bore to stroke ratio, injector position, spark plug location, intake port geometry and cam profile, everything was developed for top-end performance and efficiency. But AMG One would be a road car; it needed low-speed manners and, importantly, noise and emissions compliance.

The Advanced Technology team at HPP took the approach of augmentation rather than alteration. Where the F1 architecture created a problem, the team sought solutions that worked around the core design. “It was about protecting those attributes and then trying to work out how you enhance rather than remove,” says Allsopp.

The eventual addition of port fuel injection alongside the existing direct injection system is a prime example of that approach in action. Rather than revising the combustion chamber, port injection (coupled with some subtle changes to the intake port geometry) improved fuel atomization and mixture preparation at low speeds, and aided stabilization of combustion at idle and light load without touching the high-speed combustion strategy.

Also supporting low-speed running was a redesigned throttle, in which the original barrel throttles were replaced with more traditional butterflies. “At high speed, it’s still got the same combustion philosophy,” Allsopp says. The idea of implementing variable valve timing (banned in F1) was floated to reduce low-speed emissions. However, although this would undoubtedly have helped, it was rejected to protect the DNA of the ICE.

Another tool that could be called upon to help with low-speed emissions compliance was the MGU-K, used to load the engine at low RPM. By harvesting energy from the ICE and directing it into the battery at light throttle, the team could maintain engine load at a point where combustion quality was acceptable. A quirk of this approach is that AMG One will not run its combustion engine if the battery is full, because the MGU-K loading strategy requires somewhere for that harvested energy to go. “It sounds a bit weird and a little bit counterintuitive,” acknowledges Allsopp, “but really it was about using the tools at our disposal to work out how this over-constrained problem could be solved.”

Cold-start emissions were also addressed, partly through catalyst preheating using the car’s high-voltage electrical system, a solution made practical by the available battery capacity. What couldn’t be tackled at source was handled through exhaust aftertreatment.

Electrical hurdles

The purity of purpose applied to the ICE was carried over to the electric machines. Initially, the race- specification MGU-H and MGU-K were simply swapped into the production PU, with two MGU-Ks deployed on the front axle. However, the reality of producing a relatively large run of these motors and ensuring they were fit for road use presented a few challenges.

The rear-mounted MGU-K was kept exactly as on the race car, directly driving the crank. At the front, a pair of MGUs was packaged with reduction gears to create what is referred to as the MGU-Fs. The electric machines run at very high speed: 35,000rpm for the rear and around 50,000rpm at the front. The motors are oil cooled, with two separate cooling circuits; the rotor is cooled using engine oil (and gearbox oil at the front), and the stator by a second loop that also incorporates the inverters.

It was in the motors that one of the project’s biggest hurdles emerged: NVH. Jack Mowat-Maconochie, now head of supply chain for the Advanced Technology group, observes, “In 2018 we started the drive-by noise testing. We knew the engine to be loud, but the electric machines were incredibly loud as well.” So loud, in fact, that they would never pass muster for road use. A solution was needed, but the source of the noise needed to be pinpointed first.

It was established that there were two key culprits: the gears in the front-axle fixed-ratio gearbox, and the electrical characteristics of the electric motors. The first was relatively straightforward to overcome, with detail work on the micro- and macro-geometry of the gears bringing the noise within tolerable margins. A similar process had to be undertaken on the ICE, which features a gear-driven camtrain positioned directly behind the driver, and initially proved a little too aurally aggressive.

The electrical element of the noise problem proved more troublesome and required an almost total rework of the motor architecture. “I was fiercely against changing the motor,” says Allsopp, who felt that doing so would detract from the overall ethos of the car. But the decision was effectively made for the team: “It was actually some of the NVH experts from AMG who said, ‘Look, here’s the data. You might not want to do this, but you will not sell this car with this motor.’ It’s quite hard to argue with that.”

Again, the easy option would have been to move away from the constraints originally set by the regulations, transition to a larger-diameter motor, reduce the RPM and cut the power. Instead, HPP set about reengineering the motor to fulfill the same brief as the original, but in an NVH-compliant way.

The result was an electrical redesign within the same packaging space, moving from a six-slot to a 24-slot architecture, as well as changes such as replacing Litz wire with more conventional windings. Coupled with revised magnet selection, a revised casing and the gear improvements, the result was a system that retained the spirit of the F1 units while meeting the stringent road-car legality requirements.

The new electrical design was also transferred to the rear MGU-K. “They’re identical,” says mechanical engineer Mark Digby. “They use the same rotor, stator and winding setup. They’re just packaged in different external housings to connect to the engine block and front gearbox respectively.” The choice to maintain commonality front and rear was a pragmatic one. “It was done to try to maximize commonality, so we are not making lots of different types of rotors and stators, given we had to produce more than 900 of them,” notes Digby.

From an F1 perspective, a run of this volume counts as mass production and required HPP to find a more efficient manufacturing process than the painstaking, largely manual approach used on F1 PUs. To this end, the engine maker developed automated in-house production capability for the rotors and stators, enabling repeatable production of motors regardless of the quantity required. “We were hand-winding them initially, and that was just not sustainable,” recalls Digby.

Continued in part 2 … 

Related news, Mercedes-AMG One breaks its own lap record at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife

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The NTT IndyCar Series chassis and powertrain package for 2028 has been unveiled. Introducing a modernized look designed to provide for faster lap times and improved raceability, the IR-28 race car has been designed to encourage more “wheel-to-wheel action” while also creating the “safest car yet,” according to the racing series.

The IR-28 chassis was developed in partnership with Dallara, with the new car making its competition debut at the start of the 2028 NTT IndyCar Series championship.

IndyCar president J Douglas Boles commented, “With initial testing to begin this week, there is still plenty of work to do before 2028, but we are well on our way to showcasing a new era of IndyCar, which will include enhanced wheel-to-wheel competition, track records, standards in raceability and new benchmarks in safety.”

As part of the improved raceability, the IR-28 will weigh approximately 100 lb less than the current car.

New car design

The entire vehicle has been designed and built from the ground up.

New front and rear wings, optimized for style and efficiency, give the road and street course car an aggressive stance, while the superspeedway wing configuration provides maximum downforce with limited drag in a sleek, high-speed-looking package.

The car’s aerodynamic architecture has been purpose-built to optimize the wake from the front to the back in order to enhance overtaking opportunities. The 2028 design also delivers reduced outwash and, for Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a more aerodynamically stable speedway front wing.

The new car will feature electronically controlled driver-adjustable anti-roll bars, which will enable enhanced tuning and raceability while cleaning up the cockpit by eliminating standard knobs and handles, thus also improving driver safety.

The IR-28 also introduces the Custom AXIS Inertance Control Suspension System, offering expanded spring, damper and inerter tuning within a lightweight shared damping architecture. According to the company, the system improves mechanical grip through suspension optimization while providing greater setup flexibility.

The 2028 powerplant

The power for the new 2028 NTT IndyCar Series machinery will be provided by 2.4-liter twin-turbocharged V6 internal combustion engines capable of producing up to 760hp. Chevrolet and Honda have committed to participate under the new engine formula, which will deliver increased torque, power and overall performance compared to the current generation of IndyCar Series engines.

GM vice president of Global Motorsports Competition Eric Warren said, “This new car builds on more than a decade of collaboration with IndyCar.”

The low-voltage hybrid technology of the IR-28 will deliver greater power storage, more deployment options for teams and the decrease in package weight of approximately 20 lb. The significant performance advancement and deployment variability will be provided through a new partnership with UK-based Helix.

The new hybrid platform will feature the first battery-based energy storage system (ESS) in NTT IndyCar Series history, supplied by BOLD Technology and selected by IndyCar for the program. BOLD’s ESS for the IR-28 delivers approximately 14 times the energy storage capacity of the current supercapacitor-based system.

Xtrac, an exclusive supplier for IndyCar since 2000 and a Helix associate, is providing transmissions for the new chassis. Development includes a gearbox that sheds 25 lb from the current unit.

Safety evolution 

The IR-28 has also been designed to keep drivers safer. From the aeroscreen to the roll hoop to side-impact structures, the new car integrates recent safety and design advancements into its core architecture.

The chassis features wider internal dimensions to accommodate a greater range of driver heights and body types, and enhanced internal airflow and driver cooling for improved comfort and performance.

Decades worth of race and incident evaluations have created a chassis that features stronger, more efficient side-structure design providing increased energy absorption in high-impact situations, IndyCar said.

“Seeing the car for the first time made me even more excited about where IndyCar is going. The design is super cool and feels like a proper next step for the series while still looking like an IndyCar Series car,” said  Alex Palou, driver of the no. 10 Honda for DHL Chip Ganassi Racing.

“We all wanted a new, modern-day car that is lighter and looks futuristic and fast but still has all of the incredible safety advancements that IndyCar is known for,” said Alexander Rossi, driver of the no. 20 Java House Chevrolet for ECR . “There are still a lot of things to work through in terms of on-track testing and how it reacts to the different types of environments it will be exposed to, but from a visual standpoint, it’s incredible.”

Recent news, Peugeot begins next phase of 9X8 development

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Team Peugeot TotalEnergies has announced that it has started “the next chapter in the evolution of the Peugeot 9X8”, as it targets approval for the new vehicle for the 2027 FIA World Endurance Championship season.

Drawing on the experience gained in the car’s debut in the Hypercar category, Team Peugeot TotalEnergies is working on a series of technical evolutions aimed at enhancing performance, efficiency and competitiveness and said that this latest step marks an important milestone in the ongoing development of the Peugeot 9X8.

“Since its debut, the Peugeot 9X8 has been a platform in constant evolution. Competing at the highest level of endurance racing means continuously learning, adapting and progressing,” said Emmanuel Esnault, team principal, Team Peugeot TotalEnergies.

“The intensity of competition at a world championship level reinforces our determination to keep evolving. Our objective is clear: to position the 9X8 consistently among the top contenders.

“As we look ahead to 2027, the team is taking the next step in its development, focused on a revised approach to performance, efficiency and design. This work is a key milestone in preparing the next chapter of the Peugeot 9X8 story and perpetuating the legacy of Peugeot in endurance racing.”

Recent news, Dunlop Geomax chosen as OE for Beta Motorcyles’ trial and motocross bikes

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